While working in animation can be a bit of a tumultuous industry, many animators who can paint and draw well also supplement their income by working on illustrations for children's books! For many it's a fantastic and fun way to be creative and have fun on the side. But how does one do it well enough?
Anyone interested ought to check out the following link that Art Director Giuseppe Castellano put together providing useful insight and tips from animators who've made a good living professionally illustrating for children's books. So do check it out!
Anyone interested ought to check out the following link that Art Director Giuseppe Castellano put together providing useful insight and tips from animators who've made a good living professionally illustrating for children's books. So do check it out!
"Animators make great children’s book illustrators.
Why shouldn’t they? They can draw. They can paint. They understand character development and consistency. They know how to show form through gesture. They employ color theory to convey emotion. They’ve studied the great image-makers of the past—and not just from animation, but Impressionist, Renaissance, Post-modern, Ashcan, Baroque, Victorian, and Surrealist artists as well. They’ve gone to the zoo to draw real animals—and not just researched them online (if at all).
Animators are versatile, knowledgable, and dedicated. They understand production schedules and collaboration. And they’re fast. Boy, do I love how fast they are. This is a true conversation at a recent meeting at Penguin:
Managing Editor: Will the art be in on time?
Art Director (Me): Yes, he’s worked in animation.
Managing Editor: Oh! So he’s fast. Ok, we’re fine.
In this post, I will aim to shed a little light on being an animator in the children’s book world. I don’t know everything there is to know about the subject. I can only speak to my experiences as an art director who hires animators and character designers—and why I love working with them. For the sake of brevity, I’m going to use the term “animators” to include anyone working in the animation industry: character designers, visual developers, storyboard artists, etc."
